Fiddlehead Ferns

The following appeared in the current quarterly publication of  The Potash Kettle, produced by the Green Mountain Folklore Society. It was written by Karen Fiebig, an avid hiker of the Long Trail.

"I suppose any native Vermonter knows what fiddleheads are, but I came to Vermont from the Midwest, and I learned about them from Heidi Brouillette years ago, when we lived in Richford. Since then, gathering fiddleheads has been a favorite rite of spring for me.

You have to start early in May -- when the ferns are just poking up through the ground (they prefer sandy soil near a river or stream). You must pick them before they start unfurling. You want them to be smooth and dark green -- not 'furry.' I wish I could show you how to pick them next year.

The hard part is cleaning them, because they have a thin cover to remove and sand to rinse out from among the furls. Cook them as you would any other greens, preferable slowly in a small amount of water with a 2-inch square chunk of scored salt pork or bacon."

Source: The Potash Kettle, Quarterly Publication of the Green Mountain Folklore Society, Vol. 48, No. 3, Spring 2000.